Moreover, students work so hard to attend post-secondary institutions that disappoint students and society alike. Not only are they aware of the ongoing issue of student integrity and dishonesty, but a solution is also not being explored. Almost half of Canadian professors and teaching assistants admit to not reporting incidents of student cheating (Samuel, 2024a). This aligns with McDonaldization, a phenomenon coined by Ritzer that proposes “students are understood as customers who consume education just as they would any other commodity available in the marketplace” (Ravelli and Webber, 2022, p.345). As the comparison suggests, universities must therefore treat themselves as businesses who compete amongst other institutions for good reputations and the best students (Ravelli and Webber, 2022, p.345) through advertising factors such as how much research each school can perform with their funds (Ravelli and Webber, 2022, p.343). Consequently, this results in increased tuition costs and class sizes but fewer faculty members and government funding (Ravelli and Webber, 2022, …show more content…
The. McDonaldization does not provide future members of capitalism with the quality resources they need to make valuable contributions within society, instead it limits and decreases their knowledge about how to operate in their chosen career fields. Because of the reasons listed above, education is a public responsibility. As Foucault’s theory of discourse suggests, systems such as Canada’s education system aim to govern our thoughts and behaviours relating to issues and relationships within society (Samuel, 2024a). Mass education in Canada does not have a good image amongst many citizens today because it does not provide equal opportunities inside and outside classrooms, as well as ignorantly aggravating the oppression of small communities. While protests and choosing careers other than those considered white collar can be done individually, education as a private responsibility does not initiate much change. For example, individuals cannot change McDonaldization because Canadian society has evolved into a meritocracy (Samuel, 2024a). Additionally, employers look for credentials such as relevant degrees or involvement within the related career field in applicants (Samuel,